npc_sniper

class hierarchy
CProtoSniper defined in proto_sniper.cpp ↳CAI_BaseNPC ↳CBaseCombatCharacter ↳CBaseFlex ↳CBaseAnimatingOverlay ↳CBaseAnimating ↳CBaseEntity

Sniper

npc_sniper is a point entity available in Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and Black Mesa.

In Half-Life 2 games, this is a Combine soldier with an overwatch sniper rifle which uses blue laser sight, making it capable of extreme accuracy at extreme range.

In Black Mesa, this is a HECU marine with a sniper rifle which uses red laser sight.

The npc_sniper does not actually have its own model - rather, it uses a Combine soldier (or HECU marien in Black Mesa) model in-game (if its Hidden flag is not set) playing its idle animation, with the rifle's laser coming from the center of the hull. Only explosions and burning damage can hurt the sniper.

The sniper doesn't turn on his sight until after he sees the player or an NPC within an acceptable range and angle, and will turn it off again after he is done. He will prioritize the player over any other target. If he loses track of the player, he will get frustrated and shoot three rounds at the area where the player was last seen, often targeting smaller prop_physics (like soda cans, melons, melon chunks, cinderblocks, ...) but not large prop_physics (like soda machines). He will then resume to targeting any other visible targets.

Note:Some keyvalues, flags, inputs, or outputs might not affect an NPC, based on the functionality and coding of the NPC.

Tip:The sniper will pay attention to info_snipertargets if ordered to (with the SweepTarget, SweepTargetHighestPriority or SweepGroupRandomly inputs).

Bug:it's the only NPC that doesn't use server side ragdolls in Black Mesa 2012.

AltNames: This entity is also tied to proto_sniper.

Keyvalues

Name (targetname) <string>

The targetname that other entities refer to this entity by.

Patience Radius (radius) <integer>

Sniper will hold fire until the target is within this radius. After that, sniper will always attack, even if the target retreats outside of this radius.

Initial Misses (misses) <integer>

How many times to miss a target on purpose before beginning to fire accurately.

Beam Brightness (0 to 255) (beambrightness) <integer>

How bright the laser sight beam should be. (0 - 255)

Shoot zombies in chest (shootZombiesInChest) <boolean>

If true, aim for chest instead of headcrab. Useful when at great distance and height.

Bullet shield distance (shielddistance) <float>

!OBSOLETE

Bullet shield radius (shieldradius) <float>

!OBSOLETE

Paint interval (PaintInterval) <integer>

Sniper will keep a target painted for this many seconds before shooting. 'Faster Shooting' sniper flag multiplies this by 0.75.

Paint interval variance (PaintIntervalVariance) <integer>

When shooting at NPCs, a random number between 0 and this is added to PaintInterval for every shot.

BaseNPC keyvalues

Relationship (???) <string> !FGD Changes whether this NPC likes or dislikes certain others. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this NPC as the subject. Format: <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank>. Values for disposition are: D_HT: Hate D_FR: Fear D_LI: Like D_NU: Neutral Target Path Corner (target) <targetname> The path_corner that this NPC will move to after spawning. Squad Name (squadname) <string> NPCs that are in the same squad (i.e., have matching squad names) will share information about enemies and will take turns attacking and covering each other. Hint Group (hintgroup) <string> Hint groups are used by NPCs to restrict their hint-node searching to a subset of the map's hint nodes. Only hint nodes with matching hint group names will be considered by this NPC. Hint Limit Nav (hintlimiting) <boolean> Limits NPC to using specified hint group for navigation requests. Does not limit local navigation. Sleep State (sleepstate) <choices> Holds the NPC in stasis until specified condition. See also Wake Radius and Wake Squad. 0: None 1: Waiting for threat 2: Waiting for PVS 3: Waiting for input, ignore PVS 4: Auto PVS 5: Auto PVS after PVS Wake Radius (wakeradius) <float> Auto-wake if player comes within this distance. Wake Squad (wakesquad) <boolean> Wake all of the NPCs squadmates if the NPC is woken. Enemy Filter (enemyfilter) <targetname> Filter entity to test targets against. Ignore unseen enemies (ignoreunseenenemies) <boolean> Prefers visible enemies, regardless of distance or relationship priority. Physics Impact Damage Scale (physdamagescale) <float> Scales damage energy when this character is hit by a physics object. With a value of 0 the NPC will take no damage from physics. DamageFilter: Damage Filter (damagefilter) <targetname> Name of the filter_damage_type entity that controls which entities can damage us.

Flags

BaseNPC flags

[1] : Wait Till Seen    Prevents this NPC from seeing (or being seen) until it enters a player's viewcone.  [2] : Gag    Won't make IDLE sounds until it's angry.  [4] : Fall to ground (unchecked means teleport to ground)  [8] : Drop Healthkit    Causes this NPC to drop an item_healthvial upon dying.  [16] : Efficient    Don't acquire enemies or avoid obstacles  [128] : Wait For Script    Forces this NPC to "wait" in an idle state until it finishes playing a scripted_sequence.  [256] : Long Visibility/Shoot    By default, increases a NPC's sight range to 6,000 units and allows it to attack from anywhere within that distance.  [512] : Fade Corpse  [1024] : Think outside PVS    Allows this NPC to run its regular AI outside of any player's PVS.  [2048] : Template NPC    Marks this NPC as a template for entities like npc_template_maker. The NPC will not spawn on its own. This is not needed for point_template.  [4096] : Do Alternate collision for this NPC (player avoidance) Note:This flag is disabled in episodic for player companions, because the StartScripting input does this.  [8192] : Don't drop weapons  [16384] : Ignore player push (in all games since )    Entity won't give way to player.

•  [65536] : Hidden
     The sniper will not have a model while alive. Should be checked.

•  [131072] : Laser Viewcone

•  [262144] : No Corpse
     The sniper leaves no corpse.

•  [524288] : Start Disabled
     The sniper starts disabled

•  [1048576] : Faster shooting

Confirm:Doesn't seem to do anything?

•  [2097152] : No sweep away from target
     The sniper will not reset it's aim after firing

Todo: No sweep away from target was missing from this page for over 10 years, is it absent in some games? Existence confirmed in and

Inputs

EnableSniper

Enable Shooting.

DisableSniper

Disable Shooting.

SetDecoyRadius <integer>

Set Decoy Radius.

SweepTarget <targetname>

Makes the sniper sweep to an info_snipertarget specified in the parameter, with a behavior specified in the properties of the info_snipertarget.

Note:Using this input to set the sniper's target to anything enclosed or touching a Block LOS textured brush may cause the map to crash.

SweepTargetHighestPriority <targetname>

Same as SweepTarget, but the sniper will prioritize sweeping to this target above targeting anything else, including the player.

SweepGroupRandomly <string>

The sniper will take alternating shots at info_snipertargets belonging to a specific group (specified in its parameter) until interrupted by an NPC. (Group associations are declared in the Group Name property of these targets.)

StopSweeping

Stop any target sweeping operation started by entity I/O

ProtectTarget <targetname>

Protect the specified target. The sniper will attempt to shoot the enemy nearest the protect target at all times.

BaseNPC inputs

AddHealth <integer> (in all games since ) RemoveHealth <integer> (in all games since ) Add to or remove from the NPC's health. SetHealth <integer> Set the NPC's health. Break Smash into pieces. If this is not possible, disappear. BecomeRagdoll  (in all games since ) Remove itself and instantly become a ragdoll with zero force (just go limp). OnDeath, etc. outputs will NOT be fired. ForceInteractionWithNPC <string> <string>  (in all games since ) Force the NPC to use a dynamic interaction with another NPC. Syntax is <targetname> <dynamic interaction>. ForgetEntity <targetname> Clears out the NPC's knowledge of a named entity. UpdateEnemyMemory  (in all games since ) Update (or create) this NPC's memory of of the given entity. GagEnable GagDisable Gagged NPCs won't speak (or moan, caw, etc.) unless made to be a choreographed scene. HolsterWeapon  (in all games since ) UnholsterWeapon  (in all games since ) Force the NPC to holster or unholster their weapon. Ignored if the NPC is scripting or if the NPC doesn't use weapons. HolsterAndDestroyWeapon  (in all games since ) Same as HolsterWeapon, except the weapon is destroyed once it has been concealed. IgnoreDangerSounds <float> Ignore danger sounds for the specified number of seconds. physdamagescale <float> Scales the damage taken when this character is hit by a physics object. 0 means this feature is disabled for backwards compatibility. SetBodyGroup <integer> HACK: Sets this NPC's body group (from 0–n). SetMaxLookDistance <float> (only in ) Sets the maximum look distance for the NPC. Defaults are 2048 and 6000 for long range NPCs. SetRelationship <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank> Changes whether this NPC likes or dislikes certain others. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this NPC as the subject. Values for disposition are: D_HT: Hate D_FR: Fear D_LI: Like D_NU: Neutral SetSquad <string> Change the name of this NPC's squad. Leaving the parameter blank will remove the NPC from any existing squad. StartScripting StopScripting Enter/exit scripting state, where NPCs ignore a variety of stimulus that would make them break out of their scripts. They ignore danger sounds, ignore +Use, don't idle speak or respond to other NPCs' idle speech, and so on. Wake Wakes up the NPC if it is sleeping. DamageFilter: SetDamageFilter <string> Sets the entity to use as damage filter. Pass in an empty string (no parameter) to clear the damage filter.

Outputs

OnShotFired

Sniper's current enemy.

BaseNPC Outputs

OnDamaged Fired when this NPC takes damage (!activator is the damage inflictor). OnDamagedByPlayer Fired when this NPC is hurt by a player (!activator is the attacker or vehicle driver [if friendly fire]). OnDamagedByPlayerSquad Fired when this NPC is hurt by a player OR by one of the player's squadmates (!activator is the attacker or vehicle driver [if friendly fire]). OnDeath Fired when this NPC is killed (!activator is the killer). OnDenyCommanderUse Fired when this NPC has refused to join the player's squad. OnForcedInteractionAborted Fired when the NPC aborts a forced interaction for some reason (target NPC died, couldn't be pathed to, etc.). OnForcedInteractionStarted Fired when the NPC starts a forced interaction. OnForcedInteractionFinished "NPCs in actbusies can no longer perform dynamic interactions." Todo: What does this mean? OnHalfHealth Fired when this NPC reaches half of its maximum health. OnHearCombat Fired when this NPC hears combat sounds. OnHearPlayer Fired when this NPC hears the player. OnHearWorld Fired when this NPC hears a sound (other than combat or the player). OnFoundEnemy <targetname> Fired when this NPC establishes line of sight to its enemy. OnLostEnemy Fired when this NPC loses its enemy. Usually due to the enemy being killed/removed, or because this NPC has selected a newer, more dangerous enemy. OnLostEnemyLOS Fired when this NPC loses line of sight to its enemy. OnFoundPlayer <targetname> Fired when this NPC establishes line of sight to its enemy, and that enemy is a player. OnLostPlayer Fired when this NPC loses its enemy, and that enemy was a player. Usually due to the enemy being killed/removed, or because this NPC has selected a newer, more dangerous enemy. OnLostPlayerLOS Fired when this NPC loses line of sight to its enemy, and that enemy is a player. OnSleep Fired when this NPC enters a sleep state. OnWake Fired when this NPC comes out of a sleep state.

See also

• info_snipertarget